Mystic Cat, you're always one step ahead of me!
Quote:
Originally posted by russellwarshay
The first American collegiate fraternity was the Flat Hat Club. I believe that Phi Beta Kappa was the second.
The next American collegiate fraternity that I am aware of is KA Circle, founded in 1812 at the University of North Carolina. It died out by 1866.
We should all be aware of the rest of the lineage of fraternities which really starts with KA Society at Union in 1825.
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PBK is typically given credit as the first fraternity because it's widely accepted to have been the first group to use things that later came to typify a collegiate fraternity: secret motto, passwords, grip, etc. I don’t disagree with Baird’s assessment that Flat Hat was a similar club to PBK, and it was obviously around much earlier (as were others), but Baird’s goes on to conclude PBK was the first fraternity as we know that word and that’s good enough for me.
Most references skip right from #1 PBK to #2 Kappa Alpha society of 1825. I think the reason they omit Kappa Alpha of 1812 (Kuklos Adelphon) is a) they were not entirely collegiate, establishing Kuklos or circles in county seat towns, and b) they were esoterically virtually identical to PBK, so much so that they are sometimes considered a simple evolution of PBK and not really a distinct group.
wptw